“The party and a power revealed”
Then we heard the drums from the Goo da wa’s bar, just a mile away, and noticed it had gotten dark outside.
I said, "I guess we better head up to the party."
Owsee, "sounds good to me," and we headed out.
As we started toward the caves we could see others on their way as well. The torches by the cave and on the path were lit, and the people were all carrying things for the party. The Mayor had two boys pushing a wheel barrel of beast and bird to BBQ.
We followed them to the flickering lights of the cave. As we walked in the entrance we saw a great fire in the middle, with sparks that rose high toward the cave ceiling. The ban was slamming out some good tunes, and there was a table at the front end of the bar just waiting for us. So we sat down at the table that already had a pitcher of beer and two mugs on it. We drank a beer and said hello to people as they came in. The band had a rich sound to it from the horns and drums, plus the acoustics gave it a big band sound.
All the tables had their own small lamp, as well as fruit and nuts. And Goo da wa had set up to overhead projectors, one at each end of the bar. Each was showing one of my poems on the wall. High on the wall, toward the middle of the bar, was a large sign that read, "The Poet's Lounge."
Kitty showed up before long and joined us at the table. People were passing around things they had brought and the smell of meat on the fire was wonderful. It was not long before someone brought us some. People were dancing near the stage and around the big fire as the drums rocked the hall. Goo da wa was opening keg after keg of beer without charge and seemed to be having an excellent time.
The doctor came by our table and said that the town sure knows how to throw a party. Owsee told him that Goo da wa would be staying here tonight and that he was welcome to any of the upstairs rooms at the house. He thanked us and went to dance with someone.
I asked kitty if she would like to dance. She's said she only liked slow dancing, but this was fun to watch. She had worn a white gown cut in the Roman style with one arm and shoulder bare. She also had her jeweled collar on, I'm sure most didn't know what it meant but it looked great and so did she.
Then I felt strange, as if there was danger. I turned my telekinetic device on, not knowing what was about to happen. Then I could see a large rock, about 6 feet across, was coming loose from the top of the grand hall. It started to fall toward the great fire pit in the center of the room. I reached out with my hand and mind, grabbing it and held it for moment. Then I set it down next to the fire pit as people moved out of the way. Feeling tired I sat back down, and turned my device off.
The drums had stopped and there was a dull murmuring from the
crowd. Then someone said to the band to play on, and the music started again.
Owsee said, "that was a lot of control, I did not know you could do that."
I said, "neither did I."
Owsee, "if a rock that big had hit the fire pit there would have been a shower of fire all over this cave. A love of people would have been hurt. How did you know it was going to fall?"
I said, "I just had a feeling, that's all."
Owsee, "well here's to your feelings, may they never let you down."
And we toasted with the rum Goo da wa had saved just for us.
Kitty asked, "are you feeling all right?"
I said, "it takes a lot out of me each time, but I'll be all right in a few moments."
Owsee put a large pinch of fire powder in a shot of rum. Then stirring it well gave it to me and said, "this will fix you up."
I said, "I didn't want this power to be known, and now the whole town will be talking about it. It’s sure to bring some unwanted attention."
Owsee, "maybe we could ask the Mayor to tell people to keep it a town secret."
I said, "a secret is the power of knowledge just waiting for the highest bidder. And a story is only forgotten when everyone thinks that everyone else has already heard it."
Kitty, "so the best thing to do is nothing and just watch your back."
I said, "that's right kitty, just like on the station."
We ate, drank and talked as the time went by.
The doctor left before it was very late, thanking us for the room for the night. However, Owsee, Kitty and I stayed as one by one the rest of the town went home.
It was only a few hours before dawn by the time we went home. Goo da wa stayed at his new home, the bar.
After the three of us walked home, we went to bed with no more than a quick goodnight.
“The day after”
Day 6
The mornings seem to come only minutes away. I thought the bird I heard was a Nightingale, but then I remembered I was not on Earth. I opened my eyes to see Kitty lying next to me with her eyes open too.
I said, "I'll go back to sleep if you will."
She said, "I have a store to run," with a yawn in her voice.
She gave me a quick kiss and rolled out of bed. I was going to go back to sleep for a bit but heard Owsee in the kitchen talking to Kitty. So I got out of bed and went to the kitchen to see what was for breakfast. We were having the fish that had been caught the other day. Owsee was drinking a brew he'd made from some black and green beans he ground-up and boiled, then added some sweet tree sap and milk to it. He said it was a traditional after party drink and gave me a cup of it. The taste was like old been juice with honey, and I didn’t like it much, so I drank it down fast.
Owsee asked if I would like some more but I said no thank you. I asked him if he still wanted to go fishing and he said, "you bet, right after breakfast."
Them I asked if the doctor was still in bed.
Owsee said, "no, he went to town to send for his things and to eat at the restaurant. He said he had a request to make of the Mayor, about the new house."
I said, "so it's the town that is providing him with a house, not you."
Owsee, "yes, he is now part of the town and they will take care of him for the next four years at least."
I said, "so what happens then?"
Owsee, "he will stay or we will get another doctor."
That was all we said about the matter, and not much else was said during breakfast.
Then Kitty went to her new store while Owsee and I got the boat out of the barn. We put a large net and some wine in the boat and took it to the lake. We put the boat in the water, and after Owsee was sure there was no leaks we sailed to the middle of the lake.
The lake was small enough that we could still see the shore. Which was a great comfort to me as we were in a rather small boat, at least it seem that way to me. Anything too small to stand up and walk around on is a small boat to me.
We put our sails down and let out the net.
Owsee said, "now we just sit back and wait until the net is full."
He opened the bottle of wine and emptied it into the large mugs he had brought. It was a berry wine, a little tart with a sweet aftertaste. Our mugs were empty in a short time so we opened the other bottle. It was another berry wine but sweeter with a flowery aftertaste, I enjoyed it. I drank this one a little slower, but before long the both of us were asleep and adrift in the currents of the lake.
By the time we woke up it was afternoon and we had drifted back to the shore where we put the boat in this morning, not far from the trailer. The net was heavy, so much so that we pulled it in from on shore. There were so many fish in the net that we were soon throwing back the small ones. Even though we just kept the big ones the boat was still filled by the time the net was empty. To keep them all in the boat we even had to put the net on top.
I said, "is your walk-in freezer big enough for all these fish?"
Owsee, "yes, but if we take them all home we will have no reason to go fishing again for a long time. Besides, it would take the rest of the day to clean them all, it's better to sell some."
So we drove to town and pulled up behind the dinner.
Owsee asked me to go in and
ask if they wanted any fish well he took off the net.
The woman said yes and we came out the back door to see Owsee pulling the net off and saying, "we caught some fish."
She said, "well I guess you did, I'll take half."
Then she brought out a tarp, and laid it down for us to put the fish on until the boat was half empty.
"I'll deal with you later when I have had a chance to weigh them," she said. So we drove home with the rest.
We made a place to work in the barn, and after a good deal of work, we got them all cleaned. We then started bringing the fish to the walk-in freezer in the cellar.
Owsee, "good thing I turn this thing on yesterday, it's good and cold now."
We dipped the fish in clean water and laid them on the racks to freeze them. It was a good thing the racks were close together or we would have run out of room.
After getting cleaned up a bit we went to see how Goo da wa was doing. The place had been cleaned up and he was taken a nap.
He woke up to the some of us coming in and said, "that was sure one hell of a party last night." Yes it sure was, we said.
Goo da wa, "by the way, I'm looking to buy a force field for the front of the cave."
Owsee said, "I think I have the parts on the big ship. And I'll scrounge up a thermal generator while I'm at it."
I said, "I see that stone is still there."
Goo da wa said, "yes, I was thinking of moving it but some people said it should stay there as a reminder of what happened."
I said, "we don't need a reminder, better if it was forgotten."
And with that I stretched out my hand and move the rock outside.
Owsee said, "I didn't see you turn your device on."
I looked down at my hand and the light in the gem was on, then it turned off by itself.
Goo da wa, "it's responding to his wish to be used now."
Owsee, "yes, try to reach out and crush that rocked into small bits of stone."
So I reached out with my hand and mind while trying to envision it breaking like sandstone between my fingers. The light came on in my ring and the large rock broke into many small bits of stone. Then the telekinetic enhancer turned itself off again.
Owsee, "amazing, how do you feel?"
I said, "I feel fine, not tired at all."
Owsee, "remember what the man at the store said, it only enhances your abilities. Before long, you may not even need the device."
I said, "it's still good for opening locked doors."
Owsee, "maybe one day you will not need it for that either."
Owsee and I flew in my ship to his ship in the desert. Finding the parts we needed was not hard but it took a while to load them all onto my ship, then there was the unload at the cave. There were many small parts.
Goo da wa used a 3 foot wide lift plate to stand on while putting the parts in place on the top of the mouth of the cave entrance. I had never seen an antigravity lift plate before. Owsee said he took it in trade for some repairs he did on someone's ship, and it was the only one he had ever seen.
We handed the parts to Goo da wa and he put the reflector plates in place. With the help of the lift it did not take long to get it working. Owsee asked Goo da wa if he would like to come to the house for a meal.
He said, "no, people may be coming back soon and I want to be open. Besides I have lots of leftovers from last night. Enough to last me a month."
We said we would see him later and flew the ship back over to the lake. It was starting to get dark as we walked home from the lake. And we could see Goo da wa lighting his torches.
When Owsee and I got home we sat on the porch with mugs of beer and smoke our pipes as we watched the last rays of the sun set behind the mountain. It had been a full day, despite the time we spent napping.
"What's the plan for tomorrow?" I asked.
Owsee, "I want to take you mining on the backside of the mountain. I also want to finish picking all the berry bushes that are next to the house, so I can cut them down.
I said, "there does seem to be a lot of them in other places."
Owsee, "there are so many next to the orchard that you could pick all day, all year around, and never picked them all. But they have those little pickers, and I don't want them pricking me when I try to sit on the side of my porch, your porch, I forgot for a moment I gave the house to you. Maybe you like them where they are."
I said, "if the bushes are pricking my good friends then they got to go. That's assuming we have permission to pick around the orchard."
Owsee, "of course you have my permission, and with a little work we can make this a working farm again. Or at least as much as we want to, farming for living is hard work. But if you're just doing it for yourself it can be satisfied."
I said, "I can use all the help I can get. And you should feel that this is still your place, and that there will always be a room and a meal for you."
Owsee, "I appreciate that. But the barn is big enough for me, once I get around to building a room in the loft. It never gets any colder than it is right now, and there are lots of things around the farm to keep me busy, when I’m not working as a storyteller. That's another good thing about me living out there, I could stay up late telling stories and not be bothering you. I may even make some more wine."
I said, "or maybe some of that bud liqueur."
Owsee, "yes, I may make some of that as well. And I'll tell you something, that I think you will understand without being offended. Sometimes I just need my own space to think, I think you are the same way."
I said, "I know what you mean. With the children coming even a large house like this will seem small at times. I may wish to sleep in the barn from time to time myself."
Owsee, "you will always be welcome."
There was still enough light that we could see Kitty and the doctor coming from town. I tuned in my earpiece, but only heard some small talk about how nice the town was.
Owsee said, "Kitty is going to flip when she sees how much fish we have."
In a short while Kitty and the doctor were walking out of the shadows and into the light of the porch.
Kitty said, "I invited the doc for supper," and they went inside, each with a bag of food in their arms. Owsee and I followed.
Kitty, "one of the women in town gave me a recipe for something called smorgesh pie. That's what we are heaven for supper."
It was then I realized I was hearing her through the translator in my ear, and we may not be having pie for supper at all, so I asked what was in it.
She replied, "all this stuff, now you boys go sit and talk while I get to work."
I saw a number of things she had bought that didn't look like the fixings for a pie, unless it was a pizza pie. We went out to the porch and I asked Owsee if you knew what smorgesh pie was.
He said, "yes, it's good, lots of things in or on it. You start with a flower shell and put sauce, meat, vegetables and cheese on it, then you bake it."
I said, "maybe I'm just thrown off by the name pie. To me a pie is something with berries in it and a crust on top."
Owsee, "you can make it with a crust on top, but most of the time we don't."
After lighting my pipe I said, "so how was your day doc?"
He said, "many things from the city came and the Mayor told me they will start bringing parts of my new house tomorrow. You may also like to know that I scanned Kitty and she will be having twins, a boy and a girl."
Owsee, "Twins, ah I told you it would most likely be twins."
I said, "you said it could even be quintuplets."
Owsee, "yes, but this being her first time it would most likely twins."
Dr., "it's her first time? I'll need to download everything I can find out about her kind."
Owsee, "good luck. They don't share medical information off world. But I can tell you she will have them in three to five weeks."
Doc, "that soon? Well maybe she should start to think about getting off her more."
I said, "I doubt you can keep that one off her feet for long doc."
Owsee, "that's right. These Catalacks will work right up to the last minute, then after they give birth they are back on their feet and ready to go again."
The doctor said, "sounds like they have an easy birth."
Owsee, "not according to the women, but by our standards -- yes."
I said, "and their young grow up in a year."
"Remarkable," the doctor said.
TheTraveler - book 1 Page 15